Moscow metro fire causes chaos

A fire on the Moscow metro caused chaos in the Russian capital as tens of thousands of people sought alternative routes to work.

Seven people were admitted to hospital and around 40 more needed medical assistance after a power cable caught fire during the morning rush hour in a tunnel between Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka imeni Lenina stations, emitting heavy smoke.

Authorities closed and evacuated several stations on the red Sokolnicheskaya line running north to south through the Russian capital, and brought more than 4,500 people out of the metro.

Two hundred firemen tackled the blaze, which was quickly extinguished.

An evacuated passenger breaths though a tissue while leaving the Okhotny Riad metro station (EPA)

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Several trains were stuck in tunnels for up to 40 minutes before passengers had to walk along the track to get out.

Streams of frustrated passengers spilled on to the streets and tried to squeeze into trolleybuses. At Park Kultury station, one of the busiest in the city, hundreds of people queued along the Garden Ring trying to flag down cars. Many were forced to complete their journeys on foot.

Large crowds built up inside other metro stations, especially on the ring line, which became overloaded as commuters took detours through the system.

Moscow's metro is one of the busiest in the world, used by up to seven million people daily. Trains run every two minutes or so at peak times and technical breakdowns are rare.

Ground-level staff seemed ill-prepared for the breakdown on Wednesday, resorting to shouting at passengers entering stations to let them know what was happening.